HP signs $400m cloud deal

Under terms of the deal HP will move Centrica to cloud- and utility-based computing environment improving flexibility, costs and environmental stewardship

The deal is said to be worth more than US$400 million.

Centrica will move to a utility-based private cloud computing environment that will improve speed of deployment, help lower costs and support the company's environmental objectives.

"Centrica is striving to improve our ability to respond to market changes to supply gas and electricity to homes and businesses more efficiently," said Dave Bickerton, Group CIO. "We value HP's utility computing capabilities and quality solutions that are flexible, cost-effective and help reduce our carbon footprint."

HP will deliver utility services that support Centrica's migration to a private cloud- and utility-based computing environment "enabling greater flexibility to reliably respond to changing business conditions”.

Centrica also will have access to HP's enterprise cloud-computing services for bringing better data access and new services to its customers.

HP will provide the services from two of its data centers in the United Kingdom.

"The utility industry around the world is making great strides using technology to support an Instant-On enterprise that gives businesses and consumers more control over their energy usage and utilities more options in how they deliver energy," said Mike Nefkens, senior vice president and general manager, HP Enterprise Services, EMEA.